1. |
tollway road
01:20
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close the book.
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2. |
sold for wind
02:09
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so
sing high, you travelers,
sing low
don't you know
your feet know where to go,
but your brain is blind
and those tears you cry
on the lowly dust
of the open road
if your heart
is broken, love
if your heart
is broken, love
if your heart
is broken, your mind
has gone
well... you've still got
that morning song
and the lowly dust
of the open road
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3. |
a red sock
01:25
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i dreamt last night we flew in a balloon,
so high, breathin' that cold air.
the moon fitting the mood,
of love, whispering true,
sayin', "gravity can't wait that long..."
a truth to know, a truth to cry out!
winds will shout, "so soon we'll touch the ground!"
i awoke,
and i will see
the sun to rise;
i'm so glad to know you!
the earth is soft, just like my bed.
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4. |
eldorado
02:33
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rode the road to eldorado
past a sunset forged in rust
expected to find a golden glimmer
found that it had turned to dust.
followin' this stretch of highway
takes me where i want to go
past the lowlands sewn with sagebrush
mountain peaks crowned in snow.
someone said,
"there's no more frontier."
to that i'll say, "i disagree.
turn your focus to the inside.
inside of you. inside of me.
that's where you'll find your eldorado -
in the mountains of your soul."
campfire folk and embers burnin'
stars that turn and wheels that roll.
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5. |
ROLL
03:00
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Narrator:
You better ride, ride, ride
You better roll, roll...
Now let me tell you a fine little story
about a place where once I have been
where mountains conspired
against a lean, starving sky
and the motions of chemical weathering
and a cloaking of physical weathering
and the prophetical tailorings of weather
And the ground was so thick with blueberries
that everywhere you stepped
there'd be blueberry jam
and the bears would arrive
and they'd lap it right up
they'd be so happy while their long tongues flapped
and their eyes would roll right around in their sockets
and they'd wag their little stubby tails
(you know, the kind so their arseholes aren't cold.)
You better roll,
You better ride ride ride ride ride ride ride ride ride ride,
march on down that dusty trail.
Everywhere you went
you'd hear the ringin' of bluebells
their snouts always pointing downslope
where resonances gentle glide
through valleys sloping wide
to the cushion of spruces and willow.
King Narcissus sitting still
at the top of this tower,
he's got a writ and a quill and a cape.
He says,
King Narcissus:
"I was crazy! I didn't know what I
was getting into! I had a mind of my own,
but it left; so all I got's my reflection,
my sad, sweet reflection,
and two feet which move at my behest."
Narrator:
And as he said this,
the kingdom yawned and swallowed oxygen
from the stoma of each rattling leaf
brooks crashed and roared,
lofty raptors were soaring,
and permafrost slumbered beneath.
And the days would roll,
saturated with that crisp, cool air.
And Narcissus would sign his relief
as the gears finally wound down to sleep.
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6. |
greels
02:25
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"it's just the power of birds.
all different kinds of birds, and ice as far as you've seen it go.
you know, you've lived here your whole life!
(and why'd you want to go anywhere else?)
you know what i'm talking about?
good.
at least some of us do, you know..."
holy rollers on lakeshore path
clap my hands and the water rise
blink my eyes
and the breaking of ice
blink my eyes
and the chirping of mice
holy rollers on lakeshore path
oh, clap my hands and the water rising up
blink my eyes
and the breaking of ice
oh, blink my eyes
and the chirping of mice,
birds sing songs!
"...mammals feed milk to their young..."
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7. |
muse
03:48
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you say there's something
that needs finding
out there in that rugged world
so you'll go,
but you'll be back someday
oh, yes, this i say
raindrops fall from
a big, grey sky
rhododendron blossoms
pink in hue
i smile at you,
there's nothing i can do
so i say, "see your
travels through"
and i know
you will find it
in the end
maybe not tomorrow
but who knows, it could depend
on where you are
and whom you call
your friend
i'm aimless, obsessive
without you
old folks feeding pigeons
at the park
count the hairs
upon my head
i don't know where you are
and any place i dream
is much too far
and i know
you will find it
in the end
maybe not tomorrow
but who knows, it could depend
on where you are
and whom you call
your friends
when i go out at night
streetlights line a blanket
of orange light
and i sleep much better
when you're by my side
but otherwise
i will do just fine
and i know
you will find it
in the end
maybe not tomorrow
but who knows, it could depend
on where you are
and whom you call
your friends
sit out
on my old, red
rocking chair
smoking my pipe, here
in the dark
smell the midnight roses
and suddenly, there you are
and
when i die
they're gonna throw
our constellation
they're gonna throw
our stars
into the sky
and after all,
you found it in the end
a testament of wanderings
written by a pen
and now you call that
whole wide world
your friend
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8. |
Ptolemy Blues
02:06
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Ptolemy believed the Earth revolved around the Sun.
but doesn't everyone?
to propose the complex motions of
stars that blaze on through
smoky heavens, the Earth lying at the center.
so much to a skull
or a footstep's echoes thrown
self-centered universal constant is all that i have known.
this is my heartbeat!
elliptic lunar apogee!
do i know you?
you certainly know me.
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9. |
bars
02:55
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moths float dark
over rapid waters
or at the park.
they bounce right
on the streetlight.
what are they doin’ up there, anyway?
they’re doing that all night long!
if I were a moth
so say, I would remark,
“float so light
down by the park.”
And SING!
FLAP MY WINGS!
play now, minstrels,
rise and leap!
in turns, the dancers draw the deed
like poison from a snake’s bite, deep.
the whirling circlers must repeat.
pheromones tonight! the band to play
but soon, the night will steal away
with its soft-eyed lover.
they’re hand-in-hand.
these stars like moths
my lungs complain
the dark so deep
they’ll lose their way
as if it were a trajectory you could calculate in any case!
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10. |
dhigs
01:21
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here we will forever stand
on this icy chunk of glass
and as these moonbeams trace a branch,
you look at me and say,
"it don't make sense."
i say that hibernation is the key
to living life eternally.
would you choose a different path?
so still - a photon (maybe three,
their secret love that cannot be)
bounces back in weaving dance
on which a moonray skirts the branch.
have a beer! have a beer!
no light beer! have a beer!
pool tonite.
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11. |
||||
12. |
Space Man (Scarytoes)
02:39
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Space Man where you headed, in your shiny space car?
Pointed down the Milky Way,
perhaps half-way to the nearest star?
You've got your drive cut out for ya',
Ecliptic Great Planes past Pluto, and beyond...
Space Man! (space is vast)
Space Man! (too far to cross)
Space Man [no place for gas]
Space Man! (space is vast)
I see you've made it to your destination,
picked up a Moondog along the way,
was he an orbit or was he a stray?
I landed on this asteroid,
there was another race
they had terraformed the place.
Oh! they loved my wheels,
besides, my dog is well-behaved.
I don't know if I'll stay.
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13. |
Space bottom
01:08
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Earth to Simon Piler...
Earth to Simon Piler...
Earth to Simon Piler...
Earth to Simon Piler...
Earth to Simon Piler...
Earth to Simon Piler...
Earth to Simon Piler...
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14. |
kochia
02:28
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oh, your voice is like the wind,
floating heavy over me.
and i am a grass in the soil,
your slightest touch, it moves me!
speaking frankly, love is plain;
sometimes fevered, sometimes like rain,
yet, i can't grasp it, though i know it's name.
will i grow old alone?
the years go soft and slow.
will my beard touch the ground by the next time you come around?
if i greet you, say, "hello,"
hear that you're well, would you know
that i love you, though you've never felt the same?
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15. |
End of Side A
00:06
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that's it for Side A!
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16. |
||||
|
whoever heard the birds sing?
(and) whoever heard of that crazy thing we call love?
everybody's singing to make the sun stay.
did anybody ever show you the way to go? (no.)
did anybody ever tell 'ya about morning snow? (no.)
how are we ever gonna get that sun to stay?
i was never taken prisoner of reality
so i planted seeds of randomnimity
so you see that,
that i waited and waited.
seventeen men in their coal-white coats
clap their hand -
they're getting soaked by rainfall.
spinnin' in a dance of a spiral spruce.
frayin' at the end 'till it all come loose;
they're waiting.
if i had a dollar, i'd hedge my bets
aces up my sleeve, but i haven't won, yet.
i'm waiting...
waiting...
i'm waiting...
whoever heard the birds sing?
whoever heard of that crazy thing we call 'love'?
(and) everybody's singin' to make the sun stay.
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17. |
constituent rock
03:26
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i don't care
for their politics
it isn't what
i'd choose
it's just that
all their policies
are riddled-up
like rules
i'd not sell
mine to media
to make some
sparkly show
no, i would give
my politics
some soil on
which to grow
and what i'd like
from senators
is stars
and some night air
i often have
a feeling that
they do not
even care
and what i'd like
from presidents
is forests
thick and wild
however,
it's more likely
i'll be treated
like a child
but
maybe that's better
than being treated
like a rock: inanimate
a brick: commonplace
a stump: useless
a fencepost: target for manipulation
some dirt: below them
a pair of gloves: to be cast aside
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18. |
slowharduh
01:37
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well, i have seen
all these people
oh, they're walkin' down the street -
the street they built of rocks and clay.
well, lay me down in that asphalt grave
oh, that I may, that I may
be reclaimed again
when it's washed away.
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19. |
dad wanted melody
01:16
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20. |
A DISASTER
03:39
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rains that fall in torrents, floods,
mix with soils to make the muds,
trickle down and then they flow
through the gutter to the Big Sioux.
their lives move in one direction, only,
and cohesion makes it lonely.
of course, of course, some circle back
in eddied currents, or winds that pass;
evaporate to try again
to be absorbed by the Great Plains.
fires will glut on leaf and bone,
the very bulk from which they're born.
appear at once, then desist;
through short, momentous lives, persist.
flames will consume, and then they die,
sworn in waste they leave behind -
that coal of black and ash of gray
that the winds will blow away.
i put my roots down very deep
so that when injured, i may leap
back into growth when sun returns,
or after smoke from prairie burns.
old men cry while children play,
floods will rise
and flow away,
floods will rise
and they will flow away.
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21. |
big arc blues
01:50
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you better ride, ride, ride
you better ride, ride, ride
you better ride, ride, ride to keep yourself alive.
you better ride, ride, ride
you better ride, ride, ride
you better ride, ride, ride to keep yourself alive.
and you hear that thrush's song,
you hear the wind as it leaps along.
you see the june-grass growing,
and you see the corn that's mowed.
you better ride, ride, ride
you better ride, ride, ride
you better ride, ride, ride to keep yourself alive.
you better ride, ride, ride
you better ride, ride, ride
you better ride, ride, ride to keep yourself alive.
you better ride, ride, ride.
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22. |
saturday
02:36
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plants do grow in crooked rows
and the streetlight call them all in line, love
streetlight call them all in line.
sweetly swift and floating sky, now
clouds do roll on summer's sigh, love,
clouds, the rippled fabric, sigh
i've got some time.
i am loose and made of glass
rippled place for light to pass, love,
rippled station of the last whip-poor-will cry
oh, don't you say
what you will now
oh, don't you say
oh, don't you say
what you will now
oh, don't you say
well, sunset red is all we got
now apple branches reaching, knock
apple branches, leaves, and trunk
listen up, now.
well, eight o' clock and where's the time went?
the concrete steps of a monument
concrete steppin' of my soul sent spinning.
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23. |
route 6
02:49
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simon: "baby."
i am alive.
i am real.
there is nothing more.
i am alive.
i am real.
there is nothing more.
i am six years old,
sitting by my best friend's door.
cats in the bushes
and headed down that old front walk
cats in the bushes
and headed down that old front walk
i live in the good old days,
always have the time to talk.
i am alive.
i am real.
there is nothing more.
i am alive.
i am real.
there is nothing more.
i am six years old,
sitting by my best friend's door.
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24. |
thistle walking
02:17
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what can anger bring that sadness cannot bring?
what can pridefulness bring that humility cannot sing?
though i'm scared, as everyone else is, i choose awareness.
what will the future bring?
i sing.
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25. |
Jammerz
03:12
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sun's coming up
so the moon's gotta go!
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26. |
song for dreamers
00:58
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when you sleep you fly for miles
oh, when you sleep you fly for miles
see the Dalles and see Cheyenne,
see the highways see the hills
and candles lit from windowsills.
when you breathe in, someone smiles
when you breathe out, someone dies
someone's smilin' all the time -
thinkin' about a sandwich that they will buy
and turnin' a light-switch off
in dreaming.
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27. |
drim
01:26
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28. |
End of Side B
00:14
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Simon Piler Alaska
Write us! We love to get a letter:
Simon Piler and The Atom Band
PO Box 147
Cantwell AK
99729
bluehomerecords (at) protonmail (dot) com
Simon Piler recommends:
Everyone Remixes
by Gregg Oakley
every bit as fresh as the original! moon-drenched truth remix; thank you, Gregg!
go to album
Exercises in Futility
by The Fig Mints (of Your Imagination)
you can't beat the raw energy and wit: one of my favorite homemade records ever - thanks, Bobby!
go to album
Tea Service: Thyme
by S. Hollis Mickey
very interesting and peaceful; you'll likely enjoy the scene Hollis sets
go to albumIf you like NEW RADISH! The Best of Simon Piler and The Atom Band (2006 - 2009), you may also like:
Forever Only Idaho
by Harrison Lemke
Big, strummy songs that recall the heart-on-sleeve earnestness and lo-fi glory of early Mountain Goats.
go to album
Darker Matter/// Mixtape 2
by Geoff Rickly
featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 25, 2013
go to album
Beautifully played and full of moving vocal performances, the Bay Area singer/songwriter's latest is a stellar work of art.
go to album
